City OKs TIF district expansion

Wednesday

Sep 4, 2013 at 1:06 PM

Marc Edwards

An amendment to increase the size of the city’s Tax Increment Finance District 1 was approved by the Pontiac City Council Monday.City officials had been working for some time to expand the areas for funding that can be used in a TIF district. Mayor Bob Russell explained the amendments, "We've been working for many months to amend the TIF to include our schools, the Strevell House, and most importantly the Kmart/Vermillion Plaza area. This gives us mechanisms to use funds to find developers, it won't have any impact on anyone's taxes, but we have to go through a legal process and check out that we meet all legal requirements."Portions of the amended areas don't have businesses, but Russell explained why they were being put in the TIF zone."We have some really bad streets around the areas of Lincoln School, Chautauqua Park, the Strevell House and Central School and this allows us to use the TIF funds to repair some of those streets."The final tract of land is the Vermillion Plaza, Russell said, adding, "We often get businesses that come to town asking if it is in the TIF district or are there incentives and we had to say no. We couldn't put the Kmart (Vermillion) Plaza in until it wasn't occupied and unfortunately that has been met and so that's why we added that." Russell said it is considered a "blighted area," one of the requirements necessary to add it into a TIF.The council heard a business presentation from Chris Downing, representing Heartland Community College. He told the council there were more than 6,000 students on HCC's three campuses. Another statistic he brought to the board's attention was that 90 percent of Heartland's graduates stay in the area where they reside.Downing's presentation was another in the series of spotlights on area businesses.The council approved a bid by Driscoll Motors for a cab/chassis for a 1-ton truck for the Street Department. The bid was $25,874.41. It was slightly over the state's bid, but the council has a policy to go with a local bid, if the two are close in amounts. Chris Brock, superintendent of the department, told the council the Driscoll bid also had on the GMC truck a skid plate which will help protect vital components underneath the truck. The Driscoll package also has a secondary battery to operate the snowplow and warning lights in the winter. The state’s bid on a Ford F350 did not have the options.The council approved a façade grant for 117 W. Madison St. for work to be done on the second floor window area. It was decided to go with "faux" windows, which are paintings of windows at a cost not to exceed $3,000 with the city paying half and the owner Bill Burbridge of B & B coins picking up his share. The other property at 113 W. Madison St., which houses Lilli's Gifts, had it's proposed project tabled until plywood above the building could be removed to see if the glass underneath could be restored and at what cost.The council gave approval for Pontiac Township High School to hold its annual homecoming parade on Sept. 27 at 2:30 p.m. The parade route will start at the high school, travel from Indiana Avenue to Main Street, south on Main to Madison Street, then proceed on Madison Street to Mill Street, then go south on Mill Street to Washington Street, ending at Evenglow Lodge.